The food adventure continues...

Seafood is one of my great loves in life. Whenever I go for an international buffet, I can usually be found in line for the offerings from the sea. I could eat those things forever!

Before flying to Ho Chi Minh City, I stumbled upon a seafood dinner tour and wanted to sign my friend and I up for it. Unfortunately, they were fully booked that weekend. So, we decided to have our own seafood feast!

Google proved to be really helpful in throwing out dining suggestions and we found ourselves near the backpackers' area for dinner.

And eat we did! We ordered to our heart's content and devoured the available shellfish. Such decadence is not wallet friendly in Singapore and seafood is not often available in so many cooking styles (steamed with lemongrass, stir-fried with a unique peanut sauce, etc). So we pointed with wild abandon at the menu and savoured the lovely morsels that were placed carefully on our table.

Cockles cooked with garlic

Snails

Squid

Clams with lovely peanut toppings

We left quietly content but our food adventure was not to end yet. The next day, we went in search for French food for lunch. Unluckily, Sunday turned out to be a day of rest for most of the restaurants in the French quarter.

Eagle-eyed and ever on the look out for good food, YL spotted a French creperie along the street that was open for business and it turned out to be a really great place for lunch (and shelter from the heat).

At La Creperie

My order with anchovies and olives

YL's squid crepe

Living it up in Saigon

The punishing heat beat down upon our backs as we walked through District 1 in Saigon. Armed with a sketchy map of the area and an umbrella that we shamelessly borrowed from the hotel, we trooped out into the hot sun. We left Singapore to escape reality and the dreariness of work, but could not leave the oppressive Southeast Asian heat behind (well, not unless we ventured a little bit further away from the equator).

The only plans we had were dinner plans so we went about aimlessly and sought shelter in the first museum that we came across, which was the Ho Chi Minh City Museum. It was housed in a colonial building much like the National Museum back home.

Ho Chi Minh City Museum

We left after viewing the exhibits for food at a nearby French bakery. The pastries were dreamily beautiful and made me long for a cafe of my own. We then hopped to another cafe for coffee and desserts at a place near the Opera House. L'usine was tricky to find, but was a charming hideout from the punishing heat. 

At L'usine

Coffee, cupcakes and good conversation

My stomach was never in want during the entire trip. Shortly after this, we joined the crowd buying noodles at a corner street stall and shared a bowl of steaming goodness. Ahh, this is the life.

At the bustling street stall 

I live for random, spontaneous moments

A job that is only good to pay the bills can be soul crushing. One yearns for escape when caught in such a place.

For me, escape comes in the form of trips abroad, however short-lived and temporal they might be (that is, until the day when my other plan can be put into action). So when YL suggested a weekend trip to Ho Chi Minh city, I jumped at the opportunity without a second thought.

We lived a weekend of reckless hedonism where we made multiple stops for food and drink without any consideration in the world. And oh boy, was the food at every corner stall good! Travelling with YL was refreshing. Her willingness to be fully immersed in a foreign culture and to splurge on tastes that were local to our chosen destination were a refreshing take to my own brand of travel - maximising returns with little investment.

As with all Southeast Asian countries, street food in Ho Chi Minh was a wonderful explosion of tastes. We started out with a traditional bowl of pho and then, we allowed our stomachs to lead the way through the city.

A good warm bowl of pho to begin with

Walking through the Ben Thanh market in search for food.

Favourite shellfish and squid!

First up, a pipping hot bowl of prawn/crab noodles

Vietnamese spring rolls

Some gooey breakfast food

Vietnamese pancake!

Colourful glasses of goodness to wash our hearty breakfast down

We lived like kings, we felt invincible.